All right, I’m still working on that 4K coverage. The delay is not from lack of effort, I assure you. Samsung recently updated the UBD-K8500 player’s firmware, so I’ve been working to see what the result is in terms of player performance.

Meanwhile, we do have some great new 4K and Blu-ray news for you today: 20th Century Fox has just officially announced the 6/7 Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of Ridley Scott’s The Martian: Extended Edition (the SRP appears to be $39.99 for either BD or 4K). [Read on here…]

All right, we’ve got two more 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews for you this afternoon and they’re both animated: Fox’s The Peanuts Movie and Warner’s The LEGO Movie. Neither is native 4K but the High Dynamic Range really makes a big difference on them – especially on The LEGO Movie – so they’re both worth checking out if you’ve joined the early adopter ranks on this format. I’m going to try to look at a couple Sony titles on the format tomorrow, so do check back. [Read on here…]

All right, this week is going to be all about 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray here at The Bits. I’ve been watching a ton of discs and working on title reviews, as well as making additional notes on my forthcoming Samsung UBD-K8500 player review and also my general thoughts on my experiences this far with the format. I’ll have new reviews each day, and I’m targeting Thursday for the player review and general thoughts. Sarah and I have had family visiting for the past week, so there’s only so much time in the day. And these things do take time.

Nevertheless, we’re kicking things off today with my look at a pair of titles that should be among the first that any new 4K adopter picks up on the Ultra HD format: Lionsgate’s Sicario and Fox’s The Revenant, both in full native 4K. Sicario also includes Dolby Atmos audio. And while The Revenant doesn’t have object-based audio, its 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is demo-quality. More importantly, with its gorgeous Oscar-winning cinematography, it is the single best looking title I’ve seen on the format thus far. It’s a real HDR stunner. Check out my reviews (here and here) for more on all that. [Read on here…]

In announcement news today (though it’s been available for pre-order for a while now), Fox has just officially set Deadpool for Blu-ray and DVD on 5/10 and announced details of the Blu-ray extras, will include audio commentary with director Tim Miller and Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld, a second commentary with Ryan Reynolds and writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, deleted and extended scenes with optional Miller commentary, a gag reel, the From Comics to Screen... to Screen documentary, galleries (of concept art, storyboards, costumes, pre-vis and “stunt-vis”), something called Deadpool’s Fun Snack, and more. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version is also coming that day, and it will include the Blu-ray version (with these same extras) inside the packaging. Right now, the Blu-ray is $22.99 on Amazon while the 4K Ultra HD version is just $29.99. The DVD is $19.99. You can pre-order any of them by clicking on the cover art below... [Read on here…]

All right, the big news today is that Paramount has just officially announced the 6/7 release of the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – Director’s Edition on Blu-ray (as we first revealed here on The Digital Bits a few weeks ago). The film itself has been remastered from a new 4K scan, with the participation of director Nicholas Meyer, and will be included on the disc in 1080p in both the original theatrical cut and the slightly longer Director’s Cut, each with 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. [Read on here…]

The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used except with the prior written permission of The Digital Bits, Inc. All logos, images, names and trademarks are the property of the respective trademark owners. Editor in Chief: Bill Hunt